by Robert Stewart

    Senatorial hopeful Pete Ricketts recently embarked on a tour of eastern Nebraska towns that began in Blair and was to end in Nebraska City to discuss his new tax plan, which was officially unveiled on Labor Day, Sept. 4.
     Ricketts said he chose the day specifically to unveil his plan as it is a day to celebrate labor.
     "People want to keep the money they've worked so hard for," he said in an interview with the Seward County Independent on Aug. 31.
     The tax plan centers on making President George W. Bush's tax cuts permanent and seeks to do this by addressing tax code inequity, lowering marginal tax rates, ending the marriage penalty, lowering capital gains and dividends taxes, reducing the death tax, changing the alternative minimum tax, increasing the child tax credit and streamlining the tax code.
     "(These are) all important steps in helping the economy grow," he said.
     Ricketts said he drew somewhat on the experience he had gained working as a corporate officer in devising the plan.
     "Part of it was the experience I had at Ameritrade," he said.
     But the tax plan is designed to work beyond the financial. Ricketts hopes it will help those he feels need it most.
     By reducing the capital gains tax, he hopes to ease the burden on older citizens selling homes to move into smaller domiciles and to encourage workers who must sell their houses in order to work in a different city.
     Reducing taxes on dividends would make it easier for companies to share profits with workers, according to Ricketts.
     "It (encourages) companies to give out dividends," he said. "It puts the money back in the pocket of the people who earned it."
     Certain elements of the plan, such as a lower marginal tax rate and a changed alternative minimum tax, are in place to help stabilize the middle class.
     Ricketts said the alternative minimum tax, which was designed to prevent the wealthy from avoiding taxes through tax shelters, is "impacting the middle class in a way it was not designed for."
     By increasing the child tax credit (the amount of money deductible for each child) and ending the marriage penalty (higher taxes paid by married couples) Ricketts seeks to encourage the development of the traditional nuclear family.
     "The family is the most basic societal unit and we should not penalize marriage and family life," information outlining the tax plan said. "It is important that we encourage healthy family life... I believe we should examine increasing the Child Tax Credit for low to moderate-income families to allow them to better provide for the needs of their families."
     Overall, Ricketts said that by easing the burden on the middle class more jobs will be created for American workers.
     "We know that tax cuts create jobs," he said.
     Ricketts also took the opportunity to challenge an assertion by Sen. Ben Nelson's campaign that he (Ricketts) is in favor of a national sales tax.
     "I've never supported a national sales tax. I never said I wanted to raise taxes 30 percent," he said.
     Marcia Cady, communications director for the Nelson campaign, said that Ricketts' tax plan lacks innovation.
     "Mr. Ricketts' plan isn't anything new," she said. "Sen. Nelson has a long record of tax cuts. The senator has been there and done all that."
     She said that Nelson has voted for six major tax cuts during his time in office, including cuts to sales tax and income tax.
     "The senator also voted against $5.3 trillion of government spending," she said.
     The bulk of Nelson's procedure for dealing with government finances, according to Cady, centers around three things– allowing the president to have line-item veto, the balanced budget amendment and a "pay-as-you-go" budgeting plan which would force government agencies to account for the funds they are requesting. By reducing the monies spent by the government, Nelson hopes to improve the nation's fiscal situation.
     "When you do cut spending, you have a better chance of reducing the federal deficit," Cady said.